Sunset
by OtterTheMemeLord
Summary: Two dragons. One stolen egg. One remote island far to the west of Pyrrhia. Four tribes kept under secrecy. A life of vigilance and caution, and one young dragon who will either change the world forever, or destroy it entirely.


"You're late." A dark voice in the cave seemed to shake the moons. The two dragons stood at the small mouth, barely large enough for the both of them to stand in, watching and listening to the gentle drizzle of the storm outside. The island they were on was small, almost invisible off the southwest coast of Pyrrhia.

"I ran into a few guards near the hatchery," Kongo hissed. "The egg is here, in one piece. You're welcome."

"Don't get smart with me," Thunder growled. "How did you get rid of them?"

"Doesn't matter," Kongo retorted back.

Thunder took a threatening step toward him. Kongo really needed to watch his snout. Thunder was a massive dragon, one of the largest CycloneWings Kongo had ever met. Dark purple scales mixed with blue in majestic swirls around his body, from snout to tail. His wings were massive, big enough to cover Kongo entirely. He bared his teeth with a threatening snarl.

"You ignorant kelp snorter!" Thunder barked. "You being seen could compromise the secrecy of our entire tribe! Thousands of years' work gone to waste by some idiot stealing a SeaWing egg!"

Kongo scrambled to his talons, tucking the dark blue egg under his wing. "Y-yes, Thunder. I'm sorry. I… I killed them."

Thunder narrowed his eyes, unimpressed. "You keep that thing safe, or I swear by the moons I'll rip you to shreds."

Kongo hesitated, then bowed his head. "Yes, Thunder."

"There's a remote village that's half-a-day northwest. There's an old palace that hasn't been used by us for a few centuries," Thunder glanced down at the egg, still carefully tucked under Kongo's wing.

The last thing that Kongo ever wanted to do was go to a kingdom he'd only recently heard about, steal an egg, a royal egg, then fly half of a day northwest and raise said egg in an old, abandoned, creepy castle. Then again, the job description for the Oceankeepers did say, "Be willing to step out of your comfort zone."

"The island is called Monaco Island," Thunder rumbled. "I'll be visiting in a few moons to see how the dragonet is doing."

Kongo nodded to Thunder. He stepped out of the cave, spread his wings, and launched himself into the sky.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

Thunder had been partially right about the village. The enormous palace that loomed over the rest of the small CycloneWing settlement looked abandoned, complete with broken windows and bats swarming around the dark purple exterior, however, it was the lack of dragons in the village itself that had just dawned on Kongo.

There were no dragons in sight. No CycloneWings, no SunWings, no TaigaWings. The architecture of everything, from the small huts to the mansions and estates, seemed to be almost ancient to Kongo.

He had been to some above-water CycloneWing settlements before, but those buildings didn't resemble these in the slightest. Modern CycloneWing buildings were made from melted steel beams in a sort of skeleton, with glass to help create the shape. But these buildings had seem to be almost molded from light tan bricks. Kongo had seen this architectural style in many books dating back hundreds of years.

With the deep blue egg tucked under his wing, Kongo touched down in front of the massive palace. The front doors were nearly three times the size of Kongo, and just as his mind began racing with thoughts as to just how he would get those doors open, his eyes caught on a small wooden sign by the front door. Wind and natural causes had sanded down most of the wood, making almost all of the letters unreadable. He could only make out the first phrase:

Breckenridge Palace

mo n a

co

Breckenridge Palace, Kongo knew he had heard the name before, it sounded too familiar. His mind raced through the thousands of hours of book reading of the history of the Cyclone Kingdom. There was no King or Queen named Breckenridge in the CycloneWing Royal Family, at least not as far as Kongo knew. Kongo shrugged it off. There were more important things to be done

Kongo padded up the broken cobblestone walkway to the main entrance of the palace. There were two large hoops on the doors, maroon and red from centuries of weathering and rust. Kongo grasped onto the hoop of the right door and pulled.

The door swung open with ease, smacking Kongo in the snout and sending him sprawling into the cobblestone. He couldn't breathe for a moment, but he stepped into the palace after regaining his bearings.

For as old as the building was, it was very well lit. White-blue rays of light shone down from the tall windows of the entrance room, the Forum, as it was called by the CyclonWings. Two sets of stairs on the far side of the Forum opposite to Kongo led up to a set of rooms with double doors — Kongo had guessed the bedrooms — and both walkways circled back around to form a majestic catwalk which overlooked the entrance room to the palace. He didn't notice at first, but there were several paintings around the Forum. Most of them were of a beautiful indigo-colored CycloneWing, who wore a dark purple beaded necklace and a large golden hoop in her right ear. There was one of three dragons, the indigo-colored one, and two larger ones. The male was a deep navy blue with lighter splashes of color across his wings. His ice blue eyes reflected order and authority. The female was a much lighter dragon, with cyan scales and darker blue swirling patterns across her underbelly. Cyan was a rare color in CycloneWings, and was usually only found in the wealthy and aristocratic.

Kongo felt a sharp jolt from under his wing. He yelped and nearly dropped his precious cargo. He found a small cushion on one of the light blue couches to cradle the egg in, and he waited. After a few moments, a large crack appeared in the shell, in a sort of lightning-bolt shape.

Kongo's chest swelled with pride, anticipation, and maybe just a twinge of anxiety. His destiny was hatching, right here, in front of him, at this very moment.

And I'm ready.


End file.
